Ornamentals. THE PRINCES OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM IN OUR FLORI DA GARDENS. By H. Nehrling. I. Cabbage Palmetto on one side and ite congener, the lowly Saw Palmetto, on Palms! The very word creates vi the other. Both reveal a very strong sions of beauty and magnificence in and unmistakable family likeness* But our minds. Groups of palms! Ave how very different are both! nues of palms! Forests of palms along Systematic botanists tell us that in our streams and bordering our clear their external structure, as well as in water lakes! Thickets of palms in our their internal organization, palms ap flat woods! Groves of Cocoanut Palms proach nearest the grasses—plants on the East Coast! Royal Palms on which have been termed by Linnaeus, the borders of the Everglades! Florida the "plebejans" of the order. Super is the land of palms. They are in ficially viewed, this appears a rather separably connected with this land of distant relationship. In making com flowers, clear water lakes, invigorating parisons, however, we must not select breezes and bright sunshine. The the Cabbage Palmetto and the Bermu word "palm" stands for all that is noble da grass for examples, but, replacing and grand in the plant world. Linnaeus the latter by the giant bamboo, we im called them the "princes of the plant- mediately see the truth of the above world." And, indeed, they are a royal statement. And, indeed, palms and family, glorying in isolation, proudly bamboos are the greatest attractions waving' their graceful foliage in the of our Florida gardens. Grown side breezes of a tropical landscape. Not by side, they create unique tropical all the members of the tribe, however, effects, charming pictures of beauty show this nobility and grandeur. As and poetry not obtainable by other in every-day life, they have—like plants. many noble families—low connections The chief feature of the palms con and poor relations. It is only neces sists in the cylindrical trunk, crowned sary to allude to our proud and elegant by a mass of either plume-like or fan- 10 146 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. shaped leaves. Our native palmettos able. These are the Ratang Palms, belong to the last group, while the which supply the rattan from which Date Palm, the Royal Palm and the the seats, etc., of our cane chairs are Cocoanut Palm have pinnate or plume- made. Naturally very prickly, these like leaves. The different species vary- stems, by means of reflexed hooks, in height from a few feet to a hundred with which the ribs of the leaves are and more. Some are stemless, but the provided, climb high up into the lof great majority have slender tall trunks. tiest forest trees. All the species of In some species the diameter of the the genus Calamus of the Old World stem, which does not vary very much and of the genus Desmoncus of tropi in its whole length, is thick and mas cal America are climbing palms. The sive, in others, slender and, polished, stems of these "vary in size from the while some of the smaller species have thickness of a quill to that'of a wrist, trunks not thicker than a walking and where abundant they render the stick or a pen holder. Most of the forest almost impassable. They lie palms have a single stem, not produc about the ground coiled and twisted ing any side shoots at all; others send and looped in the most fantastic man up quite a number of stems from one ner. They hang in frestoons from root-stock. The trunks are sometimes trees and branches, they rise suddenly smooth or ringed, but more frequently through mid air up to the top of the they are covered with the old bases of forest, or coil loosely over shrubs and the fallen leaves and sometimes they thickets like endless serpents. They are armed with formidable spines. In must attain an immense age, and ap some cases the leaves fall to the ground parently have an unlimited power of as they decay, "leaving a clean scar, in growth, for some are said to have been most cases, however, they are persis found which were 600 or even 1,000 tent, rotting slowly away and leaving feet long, and, if so, probably are the a mass of fibrous stumps attached to longest of all vegetable growths." the upper part of the stem. This rot (Wallace on "Tropical Nature.") ting mass next to the trunk forms an The leaves of many palms are of im excellent material, a kind of a peaty mense size even under cultivation. A soil, for ferns, orchids, many tillandsias specimen of the Cohune (Attalea Co- and arads, which form an exceedingly hune) in Horticultural Hall, Fair- decorative feature on what would oth mount Park, Philadelphia, not yet hav erwise be an unsightly object. Thus ing formed a trunk, has pinnate leaves nature gives us a hint how to decorate 30 feet long. Those of Manicaria sac- the bare stems of our garden palms. cifera of Para are 30 feet long and five The sheathing margins of the leaves feet wide. They are not plume-like, often break up into ,a fibrous mass, but entire and very rigid. Some of the sofetimes resembling coarse cloth and pinnate leaved palms are much larger, sometimes bast or even horse hair. those of Raphia taedigera and Maximil- The climbing palms are very remark iana regia being both sometimes more FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 14t than 50 feet long. The fan-shaped product of one of the rattan palms. leaves of the West1. Indian Cabbage The fruit of the Areca Palm (Areca Palmetto (Sabal umbraculifera) are Catechu) is the 'betel nut' so universal eight to ten feet in diameter. ly chewed by the Malays as a gentle In tropical countries the uses of the stimulant and is their substitute for palms are so exceedingly important the opium of the Chinese, the tobacco and so varied that it would fill volumes of the European and the cocoanut leaf to go into detail. Suffice it to say that of South America:" they furnish everything to the inhabi The so-called vegetable ivory is sup tants of the tropics: food, cloth, houses plied by a beautiful plume-leaved palm and ornaments. We all know some (Phytelephas macrocarpa) of South thing of the uses of the Cocoanut Palm America. and the Date Palm, but these are only Many of the most beautiful and most two species while there are hundreds impressive palms are at present culti of other useful kinds. Sugar of the vated in the palm houses of our large best quality is made of the sap of the cities. The "Palmehgarten" in Frank- Sugar Palm (Arenga saccharifera) and fort-on-the-Main has a world-wide the Indian Date Palm (Phoenix syl- fame, not only as a scientific institu vestris), the latter a most beautiful tion, but also as a resort of pleasure palm of our gardens. "The sap which and recreation. The largest scientific pours out of the cut flower-stalk of sev collection is found at Herrenhausen, eral species of palms/' says Alfred R. near Hanover, over which the cele Wallace in Tropical Nature, "when brated palm specialist, Hermann slightly fermented, forms palm wine Wendland, presided for half a century. or toddy, a very agreeable drink, and In our own land the rare collection when mixed with various herbs or of magnificent palms in Horticultural roots check fermentation, a fair imita Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, is tion of beer is produced. Other arti undoubtedly the finest in the country. cles of food are cooking oil from the This palm house is almost seventy- Cocoanut and Baccaba Palm, salt from five feet high and many specimens the fruit of a South American Palm reach quite the top of the glass roof. (Leopoldina major), while the terminal When I first saw the tall and majestic bud or 'cabbage' of many species is an specimens of Livistonia sinensis, Cocos excellent, nutritious vegetable, so that plumosa, Ceroxylon andicola, Phoenix palms may be said to supply bread, oil, Canariensis, Seaforthia elegans, Atta- sugar, salt, fruit and vegetables. Oils lea Cohune and many others in com are made from several distinct species, pany of the Norfolk Island pine (Arau- especially the celebrated Oil Palm of caria excelsa) and the Bunya-Bunya West Africa, while wax is secured (Araucaria Bidwilli), large clumps of from the leaves of some South Ameri bamboos, clusters of screw pines (Pan- can species (Copernicia cerifera, etc.). danus), masses of bananas, huge tree The resin called 'dragon's blood' is the ferns, immense specimens of the glossy 148 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Cycas circinalis, I had the impression cies are known to science, their great of being in a fairyland. The trunks of est abundance having been recorded most of these palms were densely cov by naturalists to be in the Amazon val ered with conspicuous tropical creep ley and adjacent regions. About 14 ers, particularly philodendrons, an- species are indigenous to Florida. One thuriums, Monstera deliciosa, Pothos is found in California and there are sev aurea and other arads. Underneath eral species occurring as far north as them were fine masses of the pretty South Carolina. Many of the strictly flowering banana (Musa coccinea), al tropical palms thrive splendidly in most always in bloom and extremely South Florida, while many of the sub showy; of garland flowers (Hedychium tropical species find a congenial home Gardnerianum), of Pandanus Veitchii all along the gulf coast. and P.